Wednesday, November 19, 2008

UNM-VC tightens belt — and gets $2.45 million federal grant

Julia M. Dendinger News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jdendinger@news-bulletin.com

Tomé As the calendar years draws to a close, the University of New Mexico-Valencia Campus has been warned that it may feel a funding pinch in the 2010 year due to the current "global economic crisis."

At the Nov. 4 advisory board meeting, UNM-VC Executive Director Alice Letteney told members that during a recent meeting at the main campus in Albuquerque, UNM president David Schmidly spoke about measures he has advised all branches to take regarding the possibility of revisions in this year's funding by the Legislature and possible cuts to next year's funding.

She pointed out that in 1985 the Legislature made a similar request of public institutes of higher learning across the state. "There have been drops in oil and gas revenues for the state and revenue projections are down for this and next year," Letteney said. "They are looking at a possible give-back of some of our appropriations."

Letteney went on to say that President Schmidly has directed all units of the university to identify 5 percent of their appropriated institutional and general budget for a potential legislative mid-year rescission.

"For Valencia Campus, that amounts to $256,671. He has indicated that all hiring will be paused, except for essential hires, for the next two months," she said. "There are some hires for UNM-VC, security guards specifically, that I will be making the case for as essential."

Letteney said she and UNM-VC chief officers would be meeting to look at areas such as travel, equipment purchased, building and renewal projects, energy costs, faculty release time and enrollment management in the spring semester.

"I want to make it clear that our campus does not anticipate any regular staff and faculty lay-offs," the director said. "Further, these cuts do not apply to grant-funded projects or auxiliary operations on campus such as the bookstore and cafeteria."

Advisory board member David Chavez pointed out that the campus had recently raised its tuition rates by approximately 5 percent. "I don't want to come back and raise tuition again," he said. "We need to look hard at the numbers. We can't come back and raise tuition; people don't have the money."

Letteney pointed out that UNM-VC's tuition is almost a quarter of that of main campuses. "It's a real bargain, and we do a superb job at getting students aid," she said. "When the Legislature raised the tuition credit, essentially they were saying that they want students to pay for and take more responsibility for their education."

Chavez replied that he felt the rates offered at Valencia Campus were phenomenal. "No one is arguing that," he said. "I just want to look at different models and options to get a better picture of how this will affect the campus."

Different options would be presented to the board for its final decision, Letteney said. "Right now, we don't know what the Legislature will do until they reconvene in January," she said. "Dr. Schmidly has asked us to be prepared for the possibility of a rescission."

STEM grant

While UNM-VC is preparing for possible budget cuts, it is also welcoming a two-year, $2,455,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education that will fund a program to increase the number of Hispanic and low-income students attaining degrees in the fields of science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM).

Letteney announced that the branch would receive $1.855 million in the first year and $600,000 during the second. The goals of the Title V grant is to increase the Hispanic and low-income graduation rate in STEM fields over two years and the transfer rate of those students to main campus from 13.4 to 18 percent by the end of the grant period.

To implement those goals, the campus will be focusing on technological improvement in its classrooms. Letteney said classrooms would be upgraded with Classroom Capture and Smartboard equipment.

"With Classroom Capture, essentially the whole class is videoed and once the county infrastructure is complete, students will be able to log in and participate in the class," Letteney said. "Currently, students can view the classes on the branch's Web site for review."

The Smartboards are large touch-sensitive screens that act like interactive computer monitors. Other technology upgrade plans include bandwidth upgrades and 13 Mac computers, software and peripherals for the new digital media arts lab.

Letteney said the campus is waiting on quotes for the installation of the Classroom Capture technology for 25 classrooms and five portable units. The campus is also hoping to install Smartboard technology in four separate classrooms - math, chemistry, biology and digital media arts.

In addition, the campus has already hired two full-time math faculty members, a full-time chemistry teacher and a program specialist to administer the grant.

There is also the position of advisement coordinator that will assist UNM-VC students in making the transition to main campus. An offer has been made on that position and is waiting approval from main campus.

The grant will also allow the campus to implement a university success course for STEM majors, emphasizing career opportunities, field trips to the main campus and New Mexico Tech and participate in a mentoring program with outside industry.

The grant will also allow UNM-VC to offer $250 scholarships to 25 students in the spring of 2009 and 50 students in the fall of that year.

"We are very grateful to the Department of Education for awarding us this grant," Letteney said.

"We are thrilled to receive our fourth Title V grant from the Hispanic Serving Institute program. This will help out students on our campus, especially those interested in attaining STEM degrees."

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